


When We Were Young

by estiebestie



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Childhood Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Neighbors, Octavia Blake Ships It, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2020-07-08 06:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 12,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19865344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estiebestie/pseuds/estiebestie
Summary: Bellamy and Clarke are in high school in a lighthearted rivalry. The kicker, though? They're neighbors.





	1. Sore Loser

Clarke simply could not sit still. Tapping her feet, she stared up at the ceiling tiles, counting them one by one. Mr. Pike was passing back their recent test and even though she’s always passed his tests with flying colors, she wasn’t so sure about this last one. World War I definitely wasn’t her forte.

As Mr. Pike hands her test, she greedily looks for the grade at the top. Yes, a 94! In her moment of joy she pumps her fist under her desk. She got the feeling that all eyes are on her, even though that wasn’t the case. But she still straightened herself out. Yet, she could feel one particular pair of eyes digging into the back of her head.

And low and behold, it’s Bellamy Blake. God, he was the worst. Tall, dark, and brooding, and a total jackass.

“Why so happy Princess?” His deep voice rips into the noisy air but she still can hear that distinct voice anywhere.

She turns to him grudgingly and as she rolls her eyes, he seizes the fleeting opportunity to snatch the test from her grasp and scans her grade.

“Hey!” she exclaims.

As soon as he sees the score, he’s got a smug look on his face. “Hah, I beat you. Again. I got a 96.” His intense, mocking gaze is burning into Clarke and he could not be any more satisfied.

“What?! No!” Clarke grabs at his test and he lets her take it so she can see for herself. Her eyes are filled with utter horror. She looks back at him again, only to recognize that familiar cocky grin.  
“It can’t be. You don’t even study. I know you don’t study.”  
“Who says I don’t?” he innocently asks, with puppy dog eyes.

Clarke can’t believe it. Bellamy beat her at yet another test. As one of the captains of the soccer team, you wouldn’t expect him to be very smart. But no, he’s in most of the same level classes as Clarke is(which are the highest levels), and still manages to get the same if not better grades than Clarke. It just isn’t fair.

The bell rings as she’s lost in her thoughts. Flustered, she grabs her things and rushes out of there. Bellamy is quick to catch up with her in the crowded hallway.

“What, are you sad ‘cause I beat you again? Relax, it’s not the end of the world,” he says, provoking her.

“No, I’m not. Just leave me alone, Bellamy,” Clarke groans.

“Why such a sore loser? I’m sure you’ll get it next time,” he pouts sarcastically.

“Oh shut up.” Clarke slides past him and walks away. Asshole.

As she’s walking down the hall, he yells through the crowded hallway, “It could be worse!” She doesn’t turn back and rolls her eyes. He looks and silently chuckles to himself through all of the passing period noise. He's won. 

No, what’s worse is that they’re next door neighbors. But here’s the kicker: they used to be best friends.


	2. The Very Beginning

Bellamy and Clarke were like two peas in a pod. Conjoined at the hip, the neighbors would say. Bellamy was a tall lanky kid with wild curls, and Clarke was a brash girl who loved playing sports, especially with her dad.

When they first met, it was at a block party. Clarke’s family was new in town, so everyone gathered for them. Clarke noticed the group of boys playing soccer and immediately ran over. Bellamy was playing with the other neighborhood boys and Clarke wanted to join.

He laughed and said “In your dreams” while turning to the rest of the boys. He was apparently top dog, so they all listened to him and followed faithfully. He sneered a cocky yet playful grin, one that would push Clarke to her wits end. But that alone was what kept her coming back to fight.

“No. Girls. Allowed,” he says, every single time. He was too headstrong and with the support of his friends, he always refused.

As she walked away, she knew that she would come back the next time they were playing soccer. And the next. And the next. Well, you get the point.

Aurora eventually took notice of this and talked to Bellamy one night. “Bellamy, you’re being childish. Let that girl play tomorrow, or you’re grounded. I know that you’re gonna be a good little boy and let her join, right?”

Bellamy started to deny it and acted innocent.

Octavia scrunched her nose at him, and said, “Yeah, let Clarke play! She’s nice to me, she gives me candy at every block party.”  
Aurora instantly grew warm, “See, all the more reason to. Let Clarke play, or you’re in big trouble.”

Bellamy started to groan but he reluctantly gave in. The very next day he dragged himself over to the Griffin household but not without loitering on the doorstep. He takes a deep breath and rings the doorbell.  
Jake answered the door, giving Bellamy a questioned look. “Can I help you young man?”  
“Hi, is Clarke home?” he asked sheepishly.  
“As a matter of fact, she is. CLARKE, come down!” Clarke runs down the stairs and visibly slows down once she sees Bellamy, curious but still fierce.  
“Would you... Like to play soccer with us?” He scratches the back of his neck, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.  
Clarke was so excited, she ran to hug him at the door. He was so thrown by the hug, his eyes were stunned and his cheeks flushed. He peeled her off of him.  
“Do you wanna play or not?” He mumbled incoherently.   
“Of course! Let me put on my cleats, hold on.”  
Jake Griffin beamed at Bellamy and put his hand on his shoulder.  
Clarke raced out the door once she finished and Bellamy grudgingly followed. That was the start of it all.

When the boys saw Clarke next to Bellamy as they walked over, they all groaned. Bellamy knew this would happen and almost smiled but as soon as he saw the sad look on Clarke’s face immediately grew defensive: “Guys, just give her a chance, okay?” All of a sudden, he didn’t like it when Clarke was sad. They all grudgingly agreed, because again, they listened to Bellamy. He had that effect on others.

She did end up creaming all of the other boys. Bellamy stood in awe as he was guarding the goal. He’d never seen a girl so intensely concentrated and quick, with utter and complete control. The way the wind blew her hair as she outran the other boys. The way her legs worked with the ball, dribbling it with impeccable skill. He was stuck in a haze and couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.

Even Nathan, Bellamy’s closest friend, was impressed. After it was over, Nathan walked about to Clarke and said, “You play really good, you can come back tomorrow.” All it took was one person and the rest of the neighborhood boys attitudes were truly turned around.

She beamed at the compliment and Bellamy immediately took notice of her smile.

“Thanks, Nate!” She punched Nathan playfully on the shoulder and Nathan smiled slightly.

He noticed how bright her eyes would shine and he was almost mesmerized. Clarke saw and met his gaze, only for him to quickly turn away. His cheeks turned rosy, and Clarke giggled.

Clarke started walking back to their house and Bellamy ran to catch up.  
"Wait up," Bellamy yelled.  
Clarke looked back and flashed that brilliant smile, "C'mon, slowpoke."

Every night Bellamy would ever so politely ask the Griffin family if Clarke could come out and play, soccer ball in hand. They would say of course, but have her back by dinner.

After the games he’d walk her home, and the Griffins would ask for him to stay for dinner. He politely declined, of course, saying next time. The Griffins would say, “well then, we’ll have your family over sometime”. And they eventually did.

When the day came, Aurora said that she was glad to finally meet the girl that Bellamy raves on and on about.

Bellamy blushed and walked away, to avoid all of the comments. As he was turning away, Octavia ran up to Clarke and hugged her. “Clarke, I missed ya!”  
Clarke instantly grinned and hugged back softly, and said, “Hey, Octavia, you grew so big! Oh, and I have some old toys, if you want them”.  
Octavia jumped up and yelled “Yay! Toys!”

As Bellamy saw this whole interaction unfold, he smiled to himself. Clarke was really good with Octavia.

Jake and Abby were excited to meet “the dashing young boy’s mom”.  
“Mooom, omigod, stop!” Clarke whined. She felt herself was heating up as all eyes were on her, especially Bellamy’s.

Aurora chuckled and said, “Well, would you look at that, these two are like two peas in a pod!”  
Everyone laughed, but only Bellamy and Clarke saw each other in the midst of it all. Bellamy’s mischievous grin became different, it became softer.

Glances weren’t the only thing they shared. They also shared their dreams and their secrets. Bellamy secretly loved history and greek mythology and Clarke loved to draw. It was them against the world, and no one could stop them.

Until it wasn’t. They grew apart. Maybe it was the amount of homework, or maybe when Clarke started getting tutored. Distance separated even the closest of next door neighbors. All they knew was that as they entered high school, they weren’t Bellamy and Clarke, two peas in a pod, but they were Bellamy and Clarke, strangers. They haven’t seen each other since, until junior year, where they shared 2 classes.


	3. Chemistry is Only a Science

Not only does Clarke have to see him in the morning for Modern World History, but she has Chemistry to suffer through too.

He’s already sitting at a lab table when she walks in. He waves to her, face lit up with mischief. He nods and while mouthing “Griffin”. She groans and rolls her eyes, marching to her seat.

And that’s when Ms. Tsing gives the dreaded news: new lab partners.

Clarke could not be more horrified. Even as the lab assistant, whose main job is to roll with the punches, she hates change.

“This will be the last switch before the big project coming up. So get used to working with your new partners. Alright, as soon as you hear you and your partners name, find a lab table and introduce yourself.”

“John and Harper, Monty and Raven, Atom and Maya, Jasper and Wells....” Clarke stays alert and then she hears her name called.

“Clarke and... Finn” Clarke lets out a sigh of relief. Phew. Dodged a bullet there.

She turns to find this boy Finn, but as she scans the room, she sees a perplexed Bellamy. He’s standing, arms planted on the lab table and his eyes are glued to the ground. She swears she could see his jaw lock. _Why is he so upset?_

She shrugs it off and sees a friendly guy with stick straight brown haired guy coming towards her.  
“Hi, Finn Collins. Clarke, right?” They shake hands.  
“Yup. Nice to meet you,” she says, while smiling warmly.  
“How does it feel to be lab assistant all the time? Sure gets tiring, right?”  
Clarke laughs. “Oh yeah, it’s a doozy.”

Both instantly click and seem to be having fun knowing each other, but all of Clarke’s concentration is fixated by her feeling Bellamy glaring at them, not making any attempts to know his lab partner.

Knowing that his attention’s on her, she turns to face him, giving a death stare that screams “Fuck off”. Bellamy scoffs and turns to his lab partner. It’s Echo. A match made in heaven. All of a sudden, he gets really absorbed in conversation with Echo. Wow, so he could just turn on a switch, just like that. Clarke can’t help but stare and after a while when Bellamy can sense her staring, he instantly turns to her, gaining satisfaction. She turns red. He mouths, “Jealous?” She mouths back, “Never”.

“Alright class,” Mrs. Tsing starts, “that’s enough. It’s time to start our new lab. Clarke, would you mind helping me get this set up?”

Clarke eagerly nods, while Bellamy, with arms crossed, scoffs again. Tryhard.

“Class, while we’re getting the materials ready, you should work on the pre-lab questions,” Mrs. Tsing adds.

Clarke goes to the cabinets to get the lab equipment. But, she can’t reach the top shelf for the last item. She struggles to reach it for a solid 20 seconds, but as she’s extending her arm, someone starts grabbing it for her. She quickly turns to their chest in her face, and suddenly she’s warm. She can feel the breaths of the stranger, bodies intimately close. She slowly backs out, but finds out that it’s Bellamy looking at her, their faces inches apart. His arm holding the material slowly lowers. When did he get this tall? She can see the small semblance of the kid she used to know, with his soft eyes staring straight back at her. He’s stunned and stays still, he’s never been this close to her, not even when they were kids. She snaps out of it and grabs the box, grunting while walking away. She catches one last look and sees Bellamy scratching the back of his neck staring at the ground, yet another thing to remind her of his old self. He mutters something along the lines of, “a thank you would suffice”. The edges of her mouth curve up a bit. _He’s still in there._

It reminds her of a time he’s helped her, long ago.  
It was right before high school, and by that time Bellamy and Clarke weren’t really talking anyway. Jake Griffin had suffered from a heart attack. Clarke ran down the stairs to help him, but it was too late.

The funeral was held inside a church and all were invited. Aurora, Bellamy, and Octavia showed up to show their respects.  
“Thank you for taking the time to come, Aurora,” a tear soaked Abby softly says.  
“Abby, I’m so sorry. He was a good man,” Aurora grabs her hands.  
Bellamy glances around. Clarke was nowhere to be found.  
“If you’re looking for Clarke, I couldn’t find her,” Abby says.  
“I can find her,” Bellamy reassures her.  
Abby looks to Bellamy, grateful. “Thank you Bellamy.”

Bellamy runs off to find Clarke and after searching all over the place, he sees her crouched down on the floor in a dark room.

“Hey,” he starts.  
Clarke looks up at him with broken, tear rimmed eyes. She puts her head back down.

He pauses, but then sits down right next to her and puts her head on his shoulder.  
“It’s gonna be okay,” he comforts her. “We can leave whenever you’re ready.”  
Clarke starts sobbing, fast tears streaming down her face and Bellamy strokes her hair. “It’s gonna be okay, shhh,” he says gently.  
Clarke remembers that memory as clear as day. She will always be grateful, since he was her savior. And they never spoke of it again. _But now, with everything that’s happened, why did he always have to start bickering and competing?_


	4. Watch Out

After Chemistry ends, Clarke packs up her things to go.  
“It was nice meeting you,” Finn says.  
“You too,” Clarke replies.  
“Here’s my number,” he shyly says, “you know, for lab partner purposes.”  
“Oh yeah, here’s mine too.” Clarke flashes a genuine smile and is pleased when he returns the favor.  
See you around sometime?” he smoothly asks.  
“Yeah totally,” Clarke says blushing, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Yeah totally,” Bellamy mimics the hair tuck, as soon as Finn is out of earshot. She didn’t even notice Bellamy come towards her. _He's here to bug me, again._  
Clarke smacks him in the stomach, and Bellamy keels over in pain.  
“Hey, what was that for?” he asks.  
Clarke rolls her eyes, and walks away, again.  
As he’s catching up he warns, “Just so you know, Collins is a player. He’s got a reputation. I wouldn’t go for that if I were you.”  
She can’t believe she’s hearing this, and from Bellamy for god's sake. “Oh my god, Bellamy! Just leave me alone, it’s none of your business!” Clarke asserts.  
“Okay fine, it’s your loss.” This time it’s Bellamy retreating away from Clarke.  
———  
As she sits in her committee meeting, all she can think about is Bellamy’s words. Finn’s so sweet, he wouldn’t hurt her. And why does Bellamy care? All he does is taunt her and make everything a competition. _God, he makes her so—_  
“Clarke?”  
She snaps out of her thoughts. “Sorry, yeah?”  
“We were thinking of instead of boring old rubber balloons we fill some with glitter to give it a more regal look. What do you think?”  
“Yeah that would look great,” she nods. Anything to shake off the delusional thought she had.

————  
As she stops by her locker, she sees Bellamy again, in the hallway. Only this time, he’s a little preoccupied, making out with a leggy brunette. That was usually the case with Bellamy, the whore. Finn’s a player? Yeah Bellamy, you’re one to talk. She instantly recognizes her as Echo. Ugh, get a room. Can’t stand the sight of her.

Without thinking, she bumps into Echo a little harder than she intended while walking past their little scene.  
Echo turns around and hisses, “Watch where you’re going,” and instantly recognizes her. “Oh hey Clarke, you better bring it at practice today, god knows you’re gonna need it,” she smiles with daggers in her eyes.

Clarke smiles back, with the same deadly glare. “Gladly.”  
Now she’s got 2 sets of eyes on her as she struts away, and she’s glad she did it.


	5. Bring It On

1 week later  
Clarke has a lot of anger to let out from these past couple weeks. First there’s so much planning to do for the Winter formal, since she’s part of the student cabinet and her mom is the head of the PTA. A power duo. Then, Bellamy gets a higher score than her, and he’s also just Bellamy in general. And to top it all off, the new lab partners. Not that Finn isn’t great, he is. In fact, they’ve gotten pretty close since their first encounter. But they flirt and nothing gets done. She reluctantly picks up the slack, but at least she’s getting along with a cute boy. _Either way, it’s been A LOT._

There’s no better way to do unleash the anger than at soccer practice. As soon as school ends, she goes over her locker to get her stuff. She’s on her way to the locker room when she sees Bellamy and Echo liplocking yet again. Pretty sure they’re dating, but it’s better not to ask. N _ot that she cares. Which she doesn’t, clearly._

After quickly changing, she goes to the equipment closet to help set up.

“Kiss ass,” Echo lips.  
Clarke huffs but rises above it and ignores it. She walks past Echo, ball bag in hand, head held high.  
“Nothing to say? Really?”  
She stands her ground and just keeps walking but stops in her tracks. There’s Bellamy in the bleachers. _Why is he here? He better not be here to—._

“Hey babe,” Echo shouts.  
 _That’s why. Guess they ARE dating._

  
He cracks his signature grin and waves, to the both of them. Echo shoots her a death glare. Clarke rolls her eyes. 

Coach Indra blows her whistle. There’s a small girl next to her, hoodie on and all. She’s definitely a freshman, but Clarke can’t get a good look at her face. She doesn’t go in the huddle, she just stays back by the benches.  
“Girls, gather around,” she motions for everyone to huddle up. “We’re doing a scrimmage today. Play your best since how you play today will affect how much game time you get”.

Echo side-eyes Clarke, but Clarke pretends not to notice. One thing that Echo has on her is playing time. Echo’s mom is a generous donor for Ark High, so everything falls into place for her. But not today. This is where Clarke proves herself.

“Everyone in position!” The whistle blows.  
Clarke is striker/midfielder, so once the ball gets to her, she seizes the moment to score. After the ball reaches the back of the net, Clarke’s “team” cheer her on. Echo does not take this lightly.

The ball is turned over to her team now. Echo is also striker/midfielder, but has been known to be aggressive. She elbows Clarke and Clarke goes down in a flash. Bellamy stands up immediately. But that alone doesn’t come down from the bleachers, he’s just staring. _Clarke, get up._  
Coach Indra blows her whistle.  
“Echo, we are not that kind of team! Apologize immediately!”  
“Yes, coach,” Echo half heartedly helps Clarke up. “Sorry,” she utters sarcastically, while motioning a crying face.  
Clarke brushes herself off and just glares.  
They’re in a mini staring contest until Indra blows her whistle again.  
“Ladies, lets keep going, yeah?”  
With more determination than ever, Clarke keeps fighting and playing on, relentless. She earned that spot. She needs that spot.

Echo keeps pushing the other girls, but Indra just gives her a slap on the wrist. Clarke knows not to let it get to her head and keeps fighting, with the concentration and intensity of the times when she played with the boys in the neighborhood.

Bellamy can’t help but be in awe. She still plays the same. He’s got his eye on her the entire time, under a spell. _She’s a fighter. Easily the best one on the team. If only she wasn’t so frustrating._

“I’ve decided the lineup for tomorrow. We’ve got Roma and Maya on defense. Fox, Harper and Echo, you’re on midfield. Clarke and Emori on offense.” There’s a mix of groans and cheers among the crowd. Clarke can just feel Echo getting angry and was getting giddy.

“Also, this young girl right here is Octavia Blake. She’s a freshman that’s moved up from JV. Treat her like one of us now. That’s all for today. Clarke, would you mind locking up?” Clarke nods.  
That’s why the girl looked so familiar! And maybe that’s also why Bellamy’s here, not just for Echo, right?

After the huddle, Clarke goes up to Octavia and hugs her. Octavia is shocked at first, but gladly partakes. Bellamy can see from the bleachers and is pleasantly surprised. He didn’t think the high and mighty Clarke would even remember her. Echo runs up to him and they hug, but his eyes are still on Octavia and Clarke.

“Oh my gosh Octavia, I didn’t even recognize you, you’ve gotten so big!”  
“Thanks, but tell that to Bellamy. He still thinks I’m a child,” she jokes.  
“Still overprotective huh,” Clarke replies.  
“Yup. He won’t let me go to any parties, nothing. ”  
“Hey, that’s a good thing. I don’t even go to parties. I’m gonna go clean up, catch you later?” Clarke asks.  
“Yes, let’s!” Octavia exclaims.

Clarke is gathering up the cones and balls in the bags when Echo’s dreadful voice creeps behind her.  
“I just thought you should know, Bellamy’s taking me to the winter formal.”  
“And why are you telling me this?”  
“I don’t know, but from the looks of it, but there’s a fine line between love and hate.” _She has got to realize how stupid she sounds right now._  
“You're so wrong you have no idea.” Clarke continues to clean up.  
“Oh, really? I see the way you look at him. Back off, he’s mine.”  
Clarke scoffs. “Don’t worry, won’t be a problem.” She goes to the storage bin, distancing herself from this conversation.

Bellamy walks over hesitantly, not like his usual boisterous self. Walking into unknown territory, one would assume as much.

“Hey babe,” he says stiffly, while Echo pulls him in to kiss him, making sure Clarke sees. It’s long and forced, even Bellamy’s shocked as they pull away. After that ends, he looks at Clarke, who’s been awkwardly standing there, putting things away to pass the time.

“Griffin.” He looks like he’s itching to say more but stops.  
“Hi.”  
A beat of silence echoes into the air. Clarke is giving daggers, but he’s unreadable.

“Alright, well I’m gonna go.” Clarke says, heading towards the closet.  
“Bye Clarke,” Echo echoes(you know I had to do it to em’ lmao). “Good luck tomorrow,” she says with clear sarcasm in her tone. Bellamy watches as she leaves.


	6. The Big Game

Tensions were high. It was sudden death, and Clarke got a penalty kick from a girl that pushed her down, hard. Like a trooper, she got back up for the kick. She knows what to do. She passes the ball to Emori, and Emori dribbles and evades a player. She sees an opening and she shoots, and SCORES! THEY WON!!

  
Finally, the recognition she deserves. Even Echo was impressed and congratulated her.

  
Coach Indra went up to Clarke as they were lifting Emori up in the air.  
“I knew how hard that was, but in the end, you gave someone else the spotlight. And that’s what I’m looking for in a player and a leader.”  
Clarke was beaming. “Thanks Coach.”  
“You thought I wasn’t even looking at you this whole time, right?”  
“No, of course n—”  
“Be honest, I know you were. A player as good as you, not playing? I would be crazy.” Clarke blushed. “It was to test you,” Indra reassures.  
Now Clarke was really confused.  
“I wanted to see if you truly had the heart of a leader. You were benched, but that never affected you. You kept your cool, even when others got the spotlight.”  
“Oh,” Clarke nodded. Coach Indra smiled.  
“Yup, we’ll see who’s captain next year won’t we?” She winked. Clarke grew giddy, but masked it in her face and kept it cool.  
Just then the gatorade splashed on top of Coach Indra and all of the girls started to lift her up. “Lets go Arkers, LET’s GO!”  
Everyone was so excited, they all wanted to celebrate. But first they all suggested they see the boys game. _Greeat._

It was starting to end, but it seemed tight too.  
Clarke looked around. There were so many people in the stands, way more than their game. No wonder Bellamy brings girls home every other night. Girls dig this shit. Not that she cared, but she is his neighbor after all. She has eyes.

It all seemed so familiar, like she should get on that field. Nathan was there, and a couple other boys from the neighborhood. A blast from the past, if you may.

Even the way Bellamy’s face glistened from sweat was the same. The sweat dripped all the way from his eyes, that were more defined by his soaked eyelashes. His wet mop of hair perfectly messy with strands soaking with sweat on his forehead. It was like the old, sincere Bellamy came back to life, but taller and definitely more toned. Clarke could get used to the sight of this. But mostly the part about his kid self coming back. Not the muscular part.

He looks up at the bleachers shocked to see that Clarke’s there. All the girls swoon, but he only sees Clarke. She rolls her eyes when the girls are all fawning and immediately sticks his tongue out. Clarke glares and mouths “Deal with it”.

Since Clarke’s here, he defends better than ever. He blocks every shot with ease.

Clarke beams, she's a little bit proud of him. They were friends at some point, so she couldn’t help herself.

He knows he’s got an audience, and within that particular audience is Clarke, so he ups the ante. He pulls up his shirt to wipe the sweat off his forehead and therein lies his finely sculpted abs. The girls go crazy, but Clarke is above it all. Yet she can’t help but stare. He grins at her knowing that she’s flustered.  
 _Clarke, get it together. He’s putting on a show._

The boys end up winning, and the girls team runs down to congratulate them. Clarke is the last one to get down.

Echo has her hands all over Bellamy. _God, PDA PDA_.

Other soccer girls congratulate them and chat while Clarke stands there. She isn’t known as the social type.

Octavia goes right by her side.  
“My savior, thank you.”  
“No problem. I was thinking you were getting a bit lonely.”  
Clarke laughs. “I was. How’s freshman year going?”  
“Umm, pretty good.”  
They’re interrupted when Nathan cuts in.  
“We were pretty good, right?”  
“Nathan!” Clarke gasps. She gives him a hug. “Long time no see!”  
“Really though. How’ve you guys been?”  
“Good yeah—  
“Octavia, did you see me out there?” Bellamy interrupts.  
Clarke and Octavia do a synched eye roll. “Yes, Bell, I did.”  
“Wasn’t I—  
“Couldn’t you see we were in the middle of a conversation?” Clarke spits out.  
“Oh yeah, I did. But I. Don’t. Care.” He marches up to her and stays put.  
Clarke and Bellamy stare each other down, fists clenched. Clarke rises above it. Nathan and Octavia look at each other. It’s like they’re not even there.

The staredown is interrupted by the coaches yelling to gather both teams. They all say their after game schpeals and dismiss them.

Clarke gets to the locker room and sits down, exhausted. She changes and calls her mom.  
“Mom, can you pick me up?” She tries, but she’s sure she already knows the answer.  
“Sorry, sweetie, I’m still at the hospital. Can you find a ride?”  
“Alright. Bye. Love you.” Looks like she has to figure out dinner too.

She can’t believe she was doing this, but she asks Octavia for a ride. It makes sense though, because their neighbors, right? Maybe she should take it back.  
“Of course! But Bellamy’s driving, is that okay?”  
Clarke grunts. “Yeah that’s fine.”

As Clarke and Octavia arrived at the parking lot, Bellamy is amused.  
“So the spoiled princess comes to us for help.”  
“I just need a ride, it won’t happen again.”  
“Bellamy, stop it,” Octavia chimes in.  
Bellamy puts his hands in the air. “Fine, fine.”

The car ride was silent. Clarke was looking out the window, Octavia was looking at her phone, and Bellamy was occasionally looking at Clarke through the rearview window.

He pulls up in his driveway. “You can walk your majesty.”  
“Oh shut up.”  
“See you later, Clarke!”  
“Yeah see you later, Clarke!” Bellamy mocks. Clarke walks away and flips him off without turning around. 


	7. The Party

Later that week Clarke gets invited to Harper’s party. Clarke doesn’t usually go to parties, but everyone on the team convinced her to come. She goes in simple white crop top and jeans.

She stands idly in the corner, red solo cup filled with sprite. It seems like everyone who goes to Ark High is here. She finds Emori chatting it up with John and they seem to be hitting it off. She fights the urge not to ruin it, but she doesn’t know anybody here.

“Hey Emori,” she said shyly.  
John recognizes her and says, “Hey, you’re in my Chemistry class with Bellamy! Yeah, your rivalry thing that’s going on, it’s cute.”  
Clarke gapes. “Trust me, it’s not a rivalry, he just provokes me.”  
“No I don’t.” That distinct baritone voice calls behind her. She doesn’t even have to look, she already knows who it is.  
“Yes, you do.” She turns back to him and already has daggers in her eyes.  
“I would call it lighthearted banter,” Bellamy informs John. John laughs.  
“There’s nothing lighthearted about it.” Clarke is still glaring at Bellamy.  
“Yes, maam.” He says as he’s air saluting.  
Clarke rolls her eyes and walks away; Bellamy snickers, but watches as she leaves.

She’s back again, in the same corner. Song after song goes by and she’s ready to leave. But then, Finn walks up to her.  
“Hey Clarke! Why does it look like you’re about to leave? C’mon, stay!”  
Clarke tucks hair behind her ear. “Hey Finn. Um, yeah I don’t really know anybody here”.  
“You know me though!” he goes to hug her. He’s a bit intoxicated, if you couldn’t tell.  
“I guess so,” and Clarke starts to smile.

Meanwhile, Bellamy started to take notice of this interaction as soon as he heard a very loud “C’mon, stay!”. He saw it all happen before his very eyes, but he wanted to be the one to make Clarke smile. Emori takes notice of his staring and says, “They’re cute, aren’t they?”  
“Real cute”, he mumbled.

Clarke and Finn keep talking and never lay their eyes off one another.  
“Hey, so I know we’ve kinda just met, but I really like you.”  
Clarke blushes immediately, she’s never dealt with anything like this before.  
“Um, I like you t--”  
“Would you wanna come to the Winter Ball with me?” Finn interrupts.  
“Yes!” Clarke immediately says and hugs Finn. She didn’t even have a dress, and was planning on not going at all. This changes _a lot_ of things.

Bellamy was especially reeled when Clarke hugged Finn. Bellamy was dancing with Echo, but all he could see was Clarke and Finn having fun.

Finn was the first to go. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” he says smiling.  
“Yeah, okay!” Clarke exclaims.

Bellamy takes this fleeting moment as soon as Finn leaves.  
“Do you need a ride, princess?”  
“No, I’m fine. I can take an Uber. Shouldn’t you be worried about your girlfriend?”  
“She left already. Are you sure though?” He says seriously.  
“Yes.”  
“Relax, Octavia just wanted me to ask to make sure you got home safe. Sheesh.” he backs away and puts his hands up in defeat, turning away so she doesn’t see the rejection on his face.  
Clarke is taken aback. Since when did Bellamy help about other people?

Nevertheless, Bellamy watched through the window to see Clarke safely get out of the Uber. What can he say, he’s just worried.


	8. Daydreams and Favors

When Monday came around, during History, Clarke couldn’t sit still in her seat. She’s got a date to the dance! In all of her years, she’s gone stag with a group of friends, but now she has a date! Which reminds her, she needs to find a dress soon. She daydreams all throughout class and dreams of the dancing, the music, and how Finn is gonna look. She couldn’t contain it all, she was so excited.

Bellamy notices her ditzy-ness when she accidentally left her pencil in the sharpener too long, it got significantly shorter than it was supposed to be, wasting the pencil. He walks up to her, taps her on the shoulder, hoping to get her out of her trance, but she is dazed and just walks away. He couldn’t even bother her; she was in her own little world. She was really happy about something for some odd reason.

Emori noticed his discomfort as they were reviewing World War II in history class that day. He asked her something that’s been on his mind:  
“Do you know why Clarke’s acting all weird?”  
“You haven’t heard? She’s going to the dance with Finn, apparently.”  
“Hmm,” he nods. That explains the hug.  
“What? Ya jealous?” Emori teases.  
“What? No.” Bellamy reassures.  
Emori snickers. “Okay, if you say so.”  
————  
That day at practice, Clarke goes up to Octavia.  
“Thanks for looking out for me, I heard what you told Bellamy.” She bumps her shoulder into Octavia’s.  
“Tell him what?”  
“What do you mean? You told him to ask me if I needed a ride.”  
Octavia shook her head. “I never said that.”  
“Wait, what?” Now Clarke is really confused. She looks up at Bellamy, who’s in the stands again. He’s on his phone.  
Octavia pieces it together. “Wow, Bell is not slick,” she says in mid-laughter. She pauses for a bit but goes on to say: “I guess it’s as good as time as any to say this, but when Echo did that dirty move, he was worried about you. He even confronted Echo about it.”  
Clarke’s eyes grow big. That’s not the Bellamy I know. But it does explain the change of heart Echo had when she congratulated Clarke on the assist.  
“Oh.”  
“Oh? That’s it?” Octavia laughs. “You guys are funny.”  
For once in her life, Clarke didn’t know what to say.  
 _He’s so aggravating but also does these sweet things? in what world._


	9. My How You've Grown!

The big night was here, and Clarke was getting ready. Finn was going to pick her up any minute now.

Clarke got a halter a-line maxi dress in a simple yet elegant light blue; it was gorgeous on her. Her hair was half up-half down, for a sense of regality. She was going for a Cinderella look and put on shimmery pearl eyeshadow. She strapped on her silver one-strap pearl heels and was ready to go.

She hears Octavia and Aurora say bye to Bellamy. Her window is a perfect line of vision to see the Blake’s driveway. She walks over just to take a peek. She rolled her eyes: he had his jacket hanging against his back, typical Bellamy. _But he does clean up nicely, I’ll give him that._ Her personal favorite part was his hair: still tousled and natural. But she wasn’t gonna tell him that.

Abby couldn’t take pictures of her since she had to be there earlier, being the head PTA. So Clarke was waiting on the couch. She seemed to be waiting there for what seemed like 30 minutes when Finn sends her this text:  
Hey sorry, this is so last minute, but something came up. I’m so sorry but I can’t drive you there.

 _What?!_ Clarke took deep breaths. It’s not his fault, it’s probably something out of his control. I’ll just take the car.  
Clarke replies: That’s fine. I'll see you there. With an emphasis on those periods.   
Clarke gets her flats to drive the car quickly. She refuses to be late for the dance. Once she parks, she changes her shoes.

The giant banner outside Ark High read: The Winter Gala. How ridiculous.  
She enters, shows her ticket, and recognizes one of Abby’s friends. She hugs her and heads on into the gym. She doesn’t want to be seen, from the humiliation that she came alone, but Bellamy saw her. He gaped. And then blushed. Wow. She’s glowing. Even when she’s sad. He headed towards her but stopped in his tracks. She was on her way to Abby.

“Hi mom,” Clarke hugs her.  
“Hi honey, where’s Finn?”  
“I don’t know, but I drove here.” Clarke said sullenly.  
Abby knew from just from that what the situation was. “Okay, if you want, you can sit next to me until he gets here.” Abby holds Clarke’s hand.  
“Thanks mom.” Clarke looks up and leans against Abby.

She doesn’t feel like dancing anymore. She waits and waits. She doesn’t bother trying to find him, it’s a lost cause. She sees all of the happy couples dancing, or even just all of the happy friend groups. They all seem so, well, happy.

After a while, Bellamy with a devilish grin struts up to Abby and her. He means trouble. At least he finally has his jacket on properly.  
“May I just say, Mrs. Griffin, you’ve outdone yourself,” he smiles charmingly to Mrs. Griffin.  
“Oh, Bellamy you flatter me. You’ve grown into such a handsome young man.” Abby beams.  
Clarke is glaring daggers, no, swords, at Bellamy but it doesn’t faze him.  
“Clarke,” he nods and says, but with the subtlest hint of mischief.  
“Bellamy,” Clarke says through gritted teeth. They look at each other for a beat too long, but Abby doesn’t seem to notice.  
“Anyway,” Bellamy claps, “I should get going. You ladies have fun, alright?” he winks at Clarke and struts away.

As he walks away, Abby says, “Still such a nice boy. Tall, too. You guys used to be so close, what happened?”  
 _What happened is that Bellamy became a jerk, that’s what._  
“Oh, just school I guess,” she shrugs.

Clarke heads to the bathroom after still waiting for Finn to come and get her. It’s a big gym, though, maybe he’s already there. She’ll find him after the bathroom. It’s her night too. Maybe she should try to have some fun.

After she finishes her business, she sees Bellamy drinking at the water fountain. She briskly walks toward him and grabs his arm roughly, which takes him by surprise.  
“Hey Princess, takin’ a walk?”  
“Come here.” She drags him away and stops in a secluded hallway.  
“Listen Bellamy, don’t pull that shit again.” she whispers angrily. She’s still holding his arm in a deadlock, their faces inches apart.  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He acts innocent.  
“Stop bothering me. That was the last straw.” She plants her foot.  
“You know, you’re cute when you’re mad,” he tells her, grinning. They’re in intense eye contact, but Clarke lets go.  
“Ugh, there’s no point. Just don’t drag my mom into this.”  
“What do you mean? We go waaay back.” He crosses his arms in vindication and nods.  
“That doesn’t mean anything.” Clarke sternly says.  
His face falls. The slightest of beats occured before he spoke: “Doesn’t mean anything? So, what, us? That didn’t mean anything? When we were younger?” He’s gotten more riled up than she’s ever seen him.  
“That’s not what I--” Clarke shakes her head in protest.  
“No, that’s exactly what you meant.” Bellamy was already heated. “While you were off getting tutored and doing your debate tournaments, we all still played soccer. You got your private coach, you were the one that left. You left all of us.”  
Clarke’s at a loss for words. “That’s not true.”  
“Yes, it is. You thought you were better than all of us, and you know what? Keep doing whatever you’re doing, because I know it’s not the real you.”  
“This is the real me! Clearly you can’t see that! And that’s what all of the teasing is for, isn’t it? Because you think I changed?! So petty, just grow up,” she scoffs.  
“No Clarke. You don’t get to say that to me. We were best friends, Clarke. You left me.” He gives her one last helpless look and darts his gaze to the ground. He can’t even look her in the eye.  
She opens her mouth to reply when Finn finds her, gasping.  
“Clarke! I’m so sorry! I tried looking everywhere for you,” he says exasperatingly, clearly out of breath.  
“It’s fine. You’re here now.” she emphasizes. “Let’s go,” she grabs Finn’s arm and goes.  
What just happened? I left them? No no no. He’s wrong. I was just doing my part. He’s just mad. He’s wrong.

They get to the dance floor from snaking through the crowd of people and start dancing, but the conversation she had with Bellamy is still fresh in her mind. She has to sit--  
“HOW DARE YOU! FINN IS MINE!” A girl comes rushing to yell at her, and before Clarke can comprehend anything that’s going on, fruit punch is in her face and all over her new dress. The gym is silent now.  
“What-- wha-- I don’t”  
“Wow so you think you could just take him away from me?!  
“I didn’t know--” Tears are just streaming down her face. Where’s Finn in all of this? He’s just gonna stand there?  
“You little slut! You just steal my man, huH?!”  
Finn finally pipes up, “Raven, just calm down, okay?” He tries to grab Raven.  
“Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! I come all the way from Grounder Heights and I see you with this little--”

A punch soaked Clarke runs away, bumping into Bellamy. He turns to see who it is, and he takes a double take and stares as she runs off into the distance.

Bellamy got there too little too late.


	10. Cry It All Out

As Bellamy unpauses, he walks forward to the situation.   
Finn is begging for forgiveness, but this girl, Raven, slaps him across the face. The crowd does a collective ooh, and Bellamy winces. But that kid deserved that shit.   
Raven storms away, greeted by Ms. Tsing and Finn is left alone. The party gradually gets back to normal. The loud sounds around him fill his ears and start to muffle as he stares blankly into space, wishing he could’ve helped Clarke.   
He snaps back into reality when Echo comes right by his side, laughing.   
“Oh my god, wow. This is too good.”  
“Why would you say that, Echo?” Bellamy furrows his eyebrows.   
“Woah, relax Bellamy, it’s just a joke.”  
“No, I won’t relax. And it’s not funny.” He keeps his gaze forward, crossing his arms. All Echo could do was look at him, but he wasn’t looking at her. And she knew it. She rolls her eyes and starts to go dancing to meet her friends.  
He sits down sulking. He finally stands up abruptly and rushes to the parking lot. He tries to find Clarke’s car, but, she’s gone.   
————  
Clarke runs in her heels to her car, hoping that it’s all over. She let that girl, whoever that was, get to her. AND FINN. What the actual fuck?! THAT was why Finn didn’t show, huh! ASSHOLE! All she does is cry. She cries for a few minutes and decides to head home. I’m fucking tired of this shit. As soon as she gets home, she peeled off her dress and goes straight to the shower. She cries in there too. What am I honestly gonna do about Monday. The whole school knows now. 

After getting cozy in front of the TV, she hears the front door open. Abby walks in the family room and goes straight to hug Clarke.   
“It’s okay, sweetie. It’s okay,” she says as she strokes Clarke’s hair. “Just let it all out, don’t hesitate.”  
Clarke fell asleep on the couch and Abby didn’t even get mad; it was a long day for Clarke. 

Bellamy got home later that night, and saw that Clarke’s light was turned off. Even after their fight, he was still worried. God, what is she gonna do about Monday?


	11. The Dreaded Monday

Abby woke up Clarke at 9am on Monday. Clarke slept through all of her alarms, and she didn’t even care. She expected Abby to yell at her, or something.  
“Clarke,” she said stroking her hair, “If you want to stay home that’s fine with me. I have work, so if you need anything, just give me a call.”  
“Thanks mom.” But Clarke already had Sunday to pout. She’s going to school.  
Clarke gets ready and takes the second car to school, since she missed the bus. Now to find parking. It takes her 15 minutes to find parking a short walk from the school.  
She walks in the front door. It’s calm. Almost too calm. The bell rings, and students fill the halls.  
Oh no. As soon as she walks through the people, all she can feel are the stares and all she can hear is the gossip and laughs. Everyone knows.  
She muffles her ears and runs to the bathroom. All she can do is cry. But then she hears footsteps and voices.

“God, Clarke Griffin has guts. To steal another girl’s man, well, that takes a lot.”  
“I know, can you believe it? Thought she was just some innocent girl, but no.”

Clarke fiercely wipes her tears. She is not gonna let this get to her, no, she's not. This primes Clarke to do something she never thought she could do.

She slams open the bathroom door and goes to wash her hands. The horror on their faces almost makes her laugh.

She goes to dry her hands and as she leaves she turns around and says, “Yeah, I’m the worst, aren’t I?”

This had honestly given her the confidence boost she needed. No one else’s opinions matter, because they don’t know. And she doesn’t even care. She smirks all the way outside and just owns it. Even when she gets to her locker, which has “HOMEWRECKER” and “SLUT” and “WHORE” in big letters, she doesn’t care.

She gets through the day just fine. Finn isn’t even here to show his face in Chemistry, what a fucking coward. After Chemistry ends, Clark asks Ms. Tsing to switch lab partners. Ms. Tsing complies, saying that she’ll work that out tonight. And she asks if Clarke needs anything. That’s weird. Whatever.

Bellamy doesn’t do his usual teasing, which is also weird, but she’s fine with it anyway; she didn’t miss the teasing one bit.

But he does observe her and her quiet fierceness today. He thought she wouldn’t even show.

Then came practice, which was the most awkward thing. Everyone knew but there was a deafening silence in the air. It wasn’t like the usual chatter.

Even Octavia was quiet, which never happens.  
————  
Clarke took up all of her willpower to knock on the Blake’s door. She started pounding when it was clear he was ignoring her.  
“Bellamy? I know you’re in there! It’s Clarke!”  
Bellamy answered the door shirtless, all too serious.  
“Oh. Um. Hi.” Clarke started to blush.  
“Hi. Come on in.” He was oblivious to the effect his absence of a shirt had on Clarke. He opened the door slowly and gestured to come inside. He was serious, but he still felt kind of bad for the incident. The state of their relationship was still foggy, still undetermined. She didn’t know where she stood in Bellamy’s eyes. They’re in his kitchen, right near the front door.

She paced, with hands in her pockets and barely his way, with the whole shirtless situation. She couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye. “Anyway, um, I just came here to say you were right. You warned me about Finn. I wanted to say thanks for trying even if I didn’t listen.”  
“You’re welcome. Is that all?” Bellamy was fed up. He wasn't completely mad at her, but he still wasn't gonna forget what she said.   
"That's not all--I" She stops. "I'm sorry, but could you possibly put a shirt on?  
"Oh yeah. My bad. I'll be back." He starts to blush and leaves to put a shirt on.  
When he comes back Clarke speaks again: “I really mean-- wait, what happened to your hand?” Clark saw the redness around his knuckles and reached her arm forward.  
“I.. uh, heard these guys talking about you, calling you a slut. I- I couldn’t take it.” Clarkes eyes widened, with no words to say. He sat on his counter, jaw clenched, examining his hand.  
“I’ve never had someone go on a punching spree for me before,” she says quietly and sarcastically, yet with getting ice from his freezer. A secretly sweet smile pokes out of her mouth. She turns around and shakes the feeling. She gently puts frozen corn on his knuckles and looks at him with a friendly gaze. He winces when she sets it down. She flinches and reacts with concern.  
“Well, don’t get used to it.” He smirks while looking up at Clarke with a softer gaze.  
“Oh yeah?” Clarke nods, matching his grin with a slight twinkle.

There was a long pause and then Clarke spoke again. She leans up against his cabinets.  
“And.. what you said on the night of the dance, about me leaving? Is it true?”  
A brief silence.  
“Yeah, Clarke... I lost my best friend. You left me. You left all of us.”  
“But is that why you’re always teasing me? You resented me?”  
“Well.. it started out of spite and then it started getting fun.” A mischievous grin creeps up on his face.  
Clarke pushes his shoulder. “God, Blake, everything’s a joke to you.”  
“Hey,” with fast reflexes he quickly grabs her hand as she pulls it away and brings her in. “That’s not true.”  
Their faces were closer than ever before, making direct eye contact. They both turned away and straightened up.  
“I-uh gotta go do homework,” Clarke said.  
“Yeah, me too.” He says as he does his usual nervous twitch, a scratch on the neck.

Clarke saw herself out and shut the door behind her. She held her heart, taking breaths; it wouldn’t stop.

Bellamy got to his room and shut the door behind him. He took deep breaths but shook it off.


	12. New Partners

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long! Been neglecting writing since I'm off at college but now that it's quarantine, I guess it's as good time as any to start writing again. I've also edited and added very small additions to the past chapters. Mostly because I'm not always satisfied with the wording of things and I constantly check. I digress. I have pretty good idea of where it's going so be excited for the future. Hope you guys enjoy!!! :D

The next day in lab, Ms. Tsing had an announcement to make.  
“We’re switching lab partners.” _Yes. Thank god_.

She goes to list names and finally Clarke’s name pops up.  
“Clarke…” there’s a slightest of pauses, the most subtle one that only Clarke could hear.  
“And… Bellamy.”

Her eyebrows shoot up but she quickly recoils and stares at the floor like there’s no tomorrow. As she lists the rest Clarke could feel her face burning up. What she doesn’t expect is that Bellamy is also looking down, refusing to make eye contact. Very different from the usual smirking and staring. Echo notices this change and glares at him, only for Bellamy not to notice.  
They walk to a lab table, refusing to make eye contact.  
“Hey.”  
“Hey.”

They don’t even look at each other, even though they are literally less than half a feet apart. They almost miss the big announcement when both of their heads are running miles a minute, tuning their environment out completely.  
“I’d like for you guys to do a science project. This is the one I’ve been talking about for months now, the one worth 25% of your grade.”  
“25%, we better do a good job.” Clarke mutters while Ms. Tsing drones on.  
“Trust me, I’m good at science, probably better than Collins.” Bellamy retorts  
“Oh please.” Clarke rolls her eyes.  
“Seriously. You don’t trust me? I’m the one who gets better grades,” Bellamy cockily says. He is sure to make eye contact.  
Clarke turns to look at him. “You do not.”  
“I do too” he says. Ah, back to normal. It’s better this way.  
————  
Echo is practically yelling at this point to her teammate: “Yeah, what a whore, Clarke steals everyone’s man, don’t get too close, or she’ll--”  
“Seriously, what is your problem?” Clarke yells. This time will not slide, especially after what happened at the dance.  
“My problem is you. You stole Bellamy away from me.”  
“I didn’t do shit. Get over yourself.” Clarke rolled her eyes and walked away. Clarke was above it all and she withstood the taunting.

Until Echo took it too far.  
“She does this because she’s got daddy issues! Daddy.. issues!” Clarke stopped in her tracks.  
She whips around. “What the fuck did you just say. Repeat that again.”  
“What, oh, daddy issues?”  
Clarke starts yelling and takes Echo down. Good thing it doesn’t take long for the other girls to peel them off of each other, who knows how bad it could’ve escalated.

The door reads: Principal’s Office.  
“Now, both of you are suspended from the soccer team for a week. I’m calling your parents.”  
“You won’t get away with this! My uncle’s a lawyer!”  
We won’t suspend you from school unless you two apologize now.” Clarke is silent.  
“I refuse.” Echo says.  
“Do you ladies want to be expelled? That can happen too, you know.”  
“Fine.” Clarke starts. “I’m sorry Echo. Happy?” She turns back to the principal.  
Silence fills the room. “Okay, sorry Clarke. That’s it.”  
————  
They leave the room. “Thanks to you, I can’t play soccer.” Echo snarkily remarks.  
“You’ll live.” Clarke walks away without as much as a lookback.  
————

That night-Blake's house

“...and Clarke tackled her. But we stopped it,” Octavia explains. Bellamy is surprised.

“Are they okay? Is Clarke hurt?”

Octavia lets out a laugh. “Yes, Bellamy, Clarke is fine. Why don’t you just tell her you like her already oh my god.”

“Shut up. Get out of my room.” Bellamy shoos her off. _I can’t believe Echo would say that_. He can’t sleep that night.

————  
The day after

  
“I know what you’re gonna say Bellamy, but don’t.” Echo says with desperation.  
“I’m sorry Echo, but I heard you said. We can’t do this anymore. We should-”  
“No. Please.”  
“It’s not working out, you have to understand.”  
“It’s because of Clarke, isn’t it? You’re taking her side. She’s the one who attacked me first.”  
“No that’s not it. And you provoked her first.”  
She scoffs.“I’ve seen the way you look at her.”  
“Like what?”  
“You know. I don’t have to tell you.”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Bellamy walks away, shaking off what she said. He does not look at Clarke like that. There’s just no way.


	13. Working Hard or Hardly Working?

The day after Bellamy and Clarke are at Bellamy’s house working on their science project. After all, it’s truly a small walk from her driveway to his. She waited until his practice was over to walk over.

They do productive work until they start arguing 30 minutes in.

“No, it looks definitely better on the left of the slide.”  
“I don’t think so.”  
“Well it does.  
“Ugh just let me do this myself. You can go on a date with Echo or something.”  
Bellamy paused. “Echo and I broke up. I called it off after what she said.”  
“Oh. Sorry.” She said respectfully. How did he know what she said? Whatever. Guess it’s for the best they broke up, they were so goddamn annoying.  
“No, it’s okay. We weren’t compatible. So you’ve got all of me, baby.”  
“Ew. Don’t call me that.” The ego that this man has.  
“What? Baby?” He scoffs, but then nods like he’s following orders. “Yes ma'am.”  
She smiles. _It’s fun having him around._

They go back to doing their work when Bellamy pipes up.  
“What she said about your dad, I’m sure she didn’t mean it. But I’m sorry that she did.”  
“Ohh, I’m so sure too.” She doesn’t hold back on the sarcasm. But she becomes more genuine with the next: “You don’t have to apologize, you didn’t say it.”  
“I know. But somehow I feel responsible.” He’s completely solemn this time, unlike his usual self.  
“Classic Bellamy. Always feeling like a leader, always bearing the burden.” She dryly laughs, poking fun.  
“That’s not true.”  
“Yes, it is. Don’t deny it. It’s what makes you you.” She internally smacks herself, praying he doesn’t ask to go into detail.  
“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?” He questions very innocently.  
“Nothing. Just do your work.” She’s really flushed and Bellamy can clearly tell this time.  
“Fine.” he doesn’t press it, because knowing exactly what it means, he grins to himself.

  
After a while of productive work, they call it a day.  
“It’s looking good so far. Why don’t we end here.”  
“Okay.” Clarke looks back at the presentation one last time. Then she gathers her things. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
Bellamy hurries to stand up and holds the door open for her. “Let me walk you out.”  
“Ookay then.” Clarke has a confused look on her face but still thanks him. She didn’t quite peg him for being a gentleman.

Aurora is downstairs, making food. She yells at Bellamy once she hears him coming down the stairs. 

"BELLAMY? Do you have a minute?! Can you help out?”  
“Sure, one sec!”  
Aurora cleans up for a sec to meet him in the hallway and sees Clarke.  
“Oh my!! Clarke! It’s been such a long time since you’ve been here! What brings you here?” She runs up and hugs Clarke. Clarke was ambushed but eventually reciprocated the hug warmly.  
“Hi Mrs. Blake, hah yeah it’s been a while,” she sheepishly says. She looks at Bellamy, uncertain to what he’s thinking. “I’m just here for a school project with Bellamy.”  
“Oh, isn’t that great news. Bringing the two peas in a pod back together again. I love to see it!”  
Both of them are blushing; Clarke holds her other arm while Bellamy scratches his neck.  
To break the awkward silence, Aurora offers for Clarke to stay. “Well, I think you should stay over for dinner! I’m almost done with cooking anyway.”  
“OH, no I shouldn't impose.”  
“Oh stop it! You’re practically family!”  
“No it’s really fine I--”  
“Just stay.” he lets out a huff and firmly says, but it’s warm and welcoming.  
“Oh.. um.. Okay. I guess, if Bellamy’s okay with it.” It’s actually for the best, since mom’s probably not gonna be able to come home and cook tonight again.  
“I am.” He makes full blown eye contact that sends a full shock wave through Clarke’s body.

They’re all sitting down at the table like a family, with Octavia joining them. Clarke really enjoys it. Since when was the last time she sat down at dinner with her mom?  
They all talk about school and life, all laughing together. Bellamy steals looks at Clarke and she catches him, just like that first time when they were kids. She definitely caught him, he was not sly about it. He just likes it when she’s happy.

“So, how’s your mom?”  
“She’s doing good, yeah. Busy almost every night, with her PTA and her job and all.”  
“OH yeah she seems busy, I’ve most definitely heard her come late a couple times before. She was dropped off in a pretty nice car, if you ask me.” Aurora was sing-songy but definitely made her assumptions.  
Clarke stops to put a fork in her mouth. “What?  
“Why , would you mention that,” Bellamy gritted between his teeth.  
Octavia’s eyes roam all over the place. “Awkward.”  
“I’m sorry, but I have to go. Excuse me.” Clarke stands up and puts her napkin down. She grabs her stuff and runs.  
Bellamy immediately stands up and chases after her.  
He’s panting. “She shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”  
“I want to be alone. Please leave me alone.” She turns around for a few seconds. The night air blurs his vision of her face, but he can hear it all through her voice. She stops, and runs back to her house.  
Bellamy holds his arm up outstretched for her, unable to reach. All she becomes is a shadow. He makes sure that she gets inside, and turns back home. He really didn’t want to add more on her already full plate, but here he was messing it all up for her. He feels all of this guilt and feels her pain, his heart saddening along with hers.


	14. Show You How Its Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! I’ve had this one for a while but I haven’t been getting around to fully editing it to be complete, but here it is! Enjoy lovelies!

During class the next day Clarke is all business and no play. She’s sullen and mad but doesn’t speak a word. There’s a dignified presence to her. Bellamy doesn’t want to poke at her, fearing that she might be more stressed; he does not want to make more trouble for her. 

That night Bellamy sees through his window. Clarke arguing with Mrs. Griffin. He hears muffled voices but can make out what they’re saying.  
“...not tell me?! How long has… going on?!” He eavesdrops until the final words “I have a project to work on!” escape from Clarke’s mouth as she slams the door.  
She stomps over to the Blake's. Bellamy sees this and teleports down the stairs to answer the door by the time she gets there.  
“Hey.” He’s out of breath but acts natural, and concerned.  
Clarke doesn’t even notice. “Hey. Sorry about that. I’m ready to work now.”  
“No worries,” he says awkwardly, while shaking his head a bit, motioning for her to come inside.  
They walk up to the room in silence. They work in silence. The atmosphere has changed with these two. 

Bellamy is the first to break the silence.  
“I’m sorry my mom said that. It wasn’t her place.  
“Again, with the apologizing! She jokes. “You don’t need to. If it wasn’t for your mom, I wouldn’t have known.”  
“Still–“  
“Seriously, it’s totally fine.” she lets out reassuring smile. He does an internal sigh of relief.  
“Okay.” He makes that shy but gentle eye contact with Clarke and looks away. “That’s good.”  
Clarke nods in thanks.

Clarke breaks the silence once more.  
“I've been wondering this for a while now, that one time that you still helped me even when it was during the time I wouldn't play with you, remember, my dad’s... why.. why did you help me?”  
He pauses in the middle of his typing but doesn’t look up. “It’s what friends do.”  
Now Clarke is curious. “No, we weren't friends then. Why’d you do it?  
He’s deathly quiet. Well, that shut him up.  
“I.. I couldn’t help it, I guess. You were hurting so much, and all I had on my mind was relieving that pain. The distance between us wasn’t even an afterthought.”  
Clarke was looking straight at him and even if she was in interrogation mode, she softened up at the sound of that response. Now it’s Clarke’s turn to be silent.  
“Oh. I didn't know that. That’s really sweet.” She said it so low she could barely hear herself.  
He goes quiet too: “Why? What made you think of it?  
“Nothing.” She definitely knew why. He’s been so nice lately, it’s out of character. Well, not for his younger self.  
He simply nods. He’s not gonna press it anymore. The mood has really shifted between them. 

“I think one more day will be fine. I can come monday night after practice.”  
“Sounds good. Aren’t you excited you get to go back?” He’s genuinely excited for her.  
“I guess. I missed it. A lot. But this whole thing really lowers my chances at becoming captain next year soo…”  
Bellamy stops her. “Hey. You’re a good leader. Coach Indra would be completely stupid not to make you captain.” He’s dead serious.  
“Thanks.” She’s almost out the door.  
“Anytime.” He’s leaning against the door and they are caught in each other’s gaze. The mood keeps getting more and more serious. Bellamy cuts the tension finally by adding a joke in: “Well, if you need any help with how to really be a leader, you should stop by the game on Friday night. Ill show you how it’s done.” He beckons her while holding a flirtatious smirk. After hearing this she turns and starts walking, already sick of it.  
“Maybe I will.” Clarke turns around slightly as she walks away. Bellamy blushes.


	15. Tuck Those Feelings Away

The next Monday comes around like a slap in the face. It’s business as usual. As soon as Clarke walks through the halls there’s whispers and looks, but it’s not as much as the first time. That’s nice. 

In history she grabs Bellamy by the collar of his shirt when they’re lining up for their quarter grades. “Psst. Bellamy.” He’s caught by surprise and is reeling from the harshness of the pull. 

“God, what? That hurt.” He pouts as he turns around and strokes his neck. Clarke laughs. 

“If we have time in class today we should definitely change some of the pictures and layout because I have a better vision. We need to get work done.” 

“Okay, whatever.” He turns back around in line. Clarke is suspicious.

“Did you listen to anything I said?” She tugs him again. 

“AH, DAMN!” He yells and everyone starts looking at him, even Mr. Pike. He starts to blush. _He’s never embarrassed. Aww, so cute._

She comes back to practice and goes to set up. Octavia and Emori see her and go to give her a hug. 

“Yay! Clarke’s back!” Octavia squeals. 

“Hi guys.” Clarke shows a small smile. A few other girls come to hug her. 

Echo shows up and is surrounded by her little posse and they cheer her up. The tension was unbearable, but they still showed up for practice and played their soccer. 

Clarke cleaned up and caught Echo pausing, almost wanting to say something, but she turns around. _Whatever._

Clarke and Abby were still on bad terms, so Clarke was gonna have to ask Bellamy for a ride. She was fine with it but it could get awkward she realized. No actually, hell no it won’t get awkward it’s fine. 

After she cleaned up she walked straight to the boy’s field. All of the boys starting getting rowdy as she was walking to Bellamy. All of them yelling, ooh-ing, and whistling. She wasn’t expecting all of them to be here.

He had that devilish smirk on his face, all of the attention was on him. He started putting his hands down as if to say to calm yourselves, but keep going. She still put on a confident stride because she wasn’t intimidated by this facade. 

“Guys, just do a final lap and clean up.” He motions for them to leave. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“I need a ride home.” He raises his eyebrows. “Also, if we just go to your house together, we can get straight to working on the presentation.”

He thinks about it for a moment. “Yeah that’s fine.”

“That easy?”

“What, I’m a giving person. Don’t think of me like that Clarke-y,” he pouts. 

She lets out an airy laugh. “Alright, weirdo.” And at this time the boys are back to clean up. While they do so, Miller perks up. 

“Clarke, you should really come to our game on Friday.” Everyone else yells in agreement. 

She grins for a second before she speaks. “Fine, but if you win, I treat everyone to ice cream, yeah?”

Now everyone goes buckwild yelling “woo!” and things like “Bellamy never does that for us!” or “YES!”. 

Bellamy looks at her with a jokingly disapproving look, “Now you’ve done it.” He smiles. 

Clarke and Bellamy walk to the car deep in conversation when they don’t hear Octavia running behind them.    
“You almost forgot me!” Octavia chastises. 

“O, sorry about that!”   
“Yeah, sorry Octavia!

Octavia mellows. “Nah, it’s okay. You probably just were distracted by all of the flirting you guys do.”

They look directly at each other, shocked, and red faced. 

“Relax guys, it’s a joke,” she says as she gets into the car. 

They are silent the rest of the way. Octavia grins to herself, fully knowing what she has just done. _They’re gonna be dating within the next week, I know it_. 

Their presentation is the next day, so they have to really finalize the work tonight. They do their work for what seems like hours until they need a dinner break. 

Bellamy orders a pizza. “Get garlic knots and cinnamon sticks please, thanks.” Clarke plays innocently but sweetly. 

“And garlic knots and cinnamon sticks.” Bellamy rolls his eyes when Clarke is outwardly happy. “Yup, that’s all. Thank you.” He puts the phone down. “You eat way too much. You’re exactly the same.”

“What do you mean? Like when we were kids? No way. I was a pig.”

“You still are.” She throws her pencil case at him. 

“Whatever. Let’s get back to work until the pizza guy comes.”

They’re in a small groove and minutes away from when the pizza guy comes. They have the tracker app. 

Meanwhile, Clarke’s hair keeps falling on her face as she’s leaning down facing her laptop. She keeps tucking it and swiping it back but it falls back anyway. 

He takes notice of it and without even thinking, he puts his arm out and holds it up and out of her face for her. He’s looking at her, almost regretting his actions and quickly looks away as she slowly looks up-

The doorbell rings. Thank god. 

Bellamy zooms out of there quicker than you can say the word “check, please”. She quickly gets embarrassed and gently tugs back on her hair and ties up her hair with a hair tie that was on her wrist. _Why didn’t I just do it in the first place, my god._

  
He comes back up the stairs, still clearly heated, but if he waited any longer it would be a weirdly long amount of time to get the pizza from the delivery guy. 

He enters his room and puts the pizza on the ground where she’s working. 

“Here.” 

“Thanks.” They eat and work in silence. That seems to be the pattern. 

After a while, Bellamy notices that she’s crouched over very uncomfortably. He suggests that she moves next to him leaning on the bed, if that helps.

“I can also move if you want.”

“No it’s fine. I’ll just go over there.” She moves and plops next to him. 

“This is more comfortable, thanks,” she half smiles at him. “No problem,” he replies. 

They’re working on the project for what seems like forever until they both drift asleep…


End file.
